Producer - Small holder farmers from Nariño
Region - La Florida, Sandona, Consaca
Varietal - Caturra, Castillo & Colombia

The Department of Nariño is located in the southwest of Colombia, just above the equator and on the border with Ecuador. The region is strikingly mountainous and boasts no fewer than five volcanoes: Chiles, Cumbal, Azufral, Doña Juana and Galeras. This coffee was grown on the slopes of the latter - ‘Las Galeras’.

Las Galeras, as a volcano, has an interesting peculiarity: it had been active for at least a million years before going through a period of 10 years of dormancy up until 1988, when it became active again. Since then it has been fairly active, with the last eruption in 2013, when it affected some of the settlements at the base of the volcano. It sits looming over the region’s main city of Pasto, and coffee is grown on all of the surrounding hillsides, in which the soils have benefited from the volcanic compounds that have been produced over time.

The regions of La Florida, Sandona and Consaca sit on the north and western side of the volcano. Coffee is grown at altitudes that reach 2,300 metres, some of the highest at which coffee is grown in the world. The high altitude of cultivation allows for a slow development of the coffee bean, which gives the cup profile of Nariño its unique characteristics.

Producers in this region are overwhelmingly small-holders, who manage their own self-sufficient wet-mills and patios (open or covered) for drying. Every family does their own harvesting - usually with the help of neighbours. After the red and ripe cherries are picked, they are pulped by passing them through a manual pulper at the family farm (usually located close to the main house). The waste from this process will be used later as a natural fertilizer for the coffee trees. Depending on the conditions fermentation can range between 12 up to 48 hours. Some producers will add several layers of wet parchment over the course of a few days, which is thought to add complexity to the fermentation process and final cup profile. Once fermentation is complete, coffee is washed anywhere between 2-4 times, before being taken either to open patios or greenhouses to be sun dried. Luckily, Nariño is blessed with some of the best drying conditions in the country due to the micro-climate and high altitude of the region, providing lower relative humidity, more wind and more sunny days than other areas of the country.

Nariño

Method Coffee Roasters supply freshly roasted, speciality grade coffee. Working directly with specialist farms and co-operatives we offer carefully selected and exclusive lots of coffee.

Method Coffee Roasters

El Camino

La Esperanza

Nyungwe

ChuCho Blend

HAY Blend

La Huaca

Seasonal Decaf

Bosque Lya

Ethiopia Haru Co-operative

Ethiopia Kantite

Kenya Kiambara AA

Farm: T’Xayalaj
Altitude: 1725 MASL
Location: San Marcos, Jacaltenango; Huehuetenango
Variety: Caturra, Catuai, Typica
Harvest: January - March
Process: Washed, sun-dried on patio

Xaya

Producer: Gora village smallholders
Varietal: Gibirinna, Serto
Harvest: April - July
Process: Natural preparation.
Certification – Organic 

Ethiopia … where do we start? Amazing flavour range and quality that can be truly exceptional - an origin we fall in love with every year.

Our tasting notes:
Blueberry, lemon and dark chocolate.
Complex acidity with a long finish and buttery mouthfeel. 

Guji ‘Gora’ has been produced by a group of twenty growers from Gora village; each farmer has around 2.5 hectares of land dedicated to coffee growing. Working with Ture Waji, AKA the coffee king of Guji, the Gora farmers have been mentored on their agronomy practice and post-harvest processing, all helping improve the quality of their crop and the results in the cup are very special ...

Until three years ago, Ethiopian coffee was mainly traded through the Ethiopian Coffee Exchange (ECX). There, coffees were brought in as regional blends and auctioned off to the highest bidder, leading to coffee drinkers becoming familiar with particular regions and flavour characteristics; for example Sidamo, Limu or Yirgacheffe. 

Within Ethiopia the Guji Highlands is a region we’ve championed for several seasons; this relatively young (but already famous) coffee area is recognised for its unique and distinctive cup profiles. Elevation here is an incredible 2100 to 2350 metres above sea level and even at these altitudes the landscape is lush forest jungle. We’re thrilled to be returning to Guji...

Guji Gora

'Koko' is a classic example of a top-quality Sumatran coffee.
Our tasting notes: Rich and smooth with black cherry and chocolate.
A well balanced and versatile cup.

The Kokowagayo co-operative was founded by an all-female group of coffee producers who weren’t being properly represented in a mixed-gender co-op.

The women separated their coffee from the men’s in 2014 and began the first women-only coffee cooperative in Sumatra. In 2015 they joined the Cafe Feminino Foundation.
 
Producer - Kokowagayo co-operative
Varietal - Bourbon, Catimor
Harvest - July - September
Process - Fully washed. Patio dried.
Certification – Fair Trade and Organic

Finding their voices unheard at a mixed-gender cooperative, the women of the Kokowagayo cooperative separated their coffee from the men’s in 2014 and began the first women-only cooperative in Sumatra. The women decided they would make more community-focused decisions than the men when deciding where to allocate the price premiums they would receive for the hard work they had put into producing speciality coffee.

In 2015 the women of Kokowagayo started the Café Femenino Sumatra Program to further drive women controlled funds to their families and communities, and to nurture space where women can share their ideas and wield exclusive decision-making power.

Koko is their coffee - we’re proud and excited to be sharing their hard work with you.

Koko

Kii is owned by the Rungeto co-operative, who are well known for producing some of Kenya’s very best coffee; their meticulous preparation involves two-stage fermentation, a 24 hour soak, and a carefully managed drying procedure – also carried out over two stages. 

Kii is located along the Southern slopes of Mountain Kenya where the land has rich and fertile red volcanic soils, and great altitude. The Kii factory is one of three which make up the Rungeto Farmers Co-op Society; the cooperative was established in 1953 and is well known for producing some of Kenya’s very best coffees.

Along with perfect growing conditions the attention to detail and meticulous preparation employed at Kii involves; two-stage fermentation, 24 hour soak, and a carefully managed drying procedure – also carried out over two stages. 

The first stage of fermentation will last for around 24 hours, beans are then washed before being placed in the secondary fermentation tank for another 12-24 hours. Once the process is completed, the beans enter the washing channels where floaters are separated further and the dense beans are cleaned of mucilage. The washed beans will then enter soaking tanks where they can sit under clean water for up to 24 hours; the soak helps develop higher levels of acidity and complex fruit flavours in the cup – contributing to the flavour profiles that Kenyan coffees are famed for. 

The beans are then transferred to drying tables where they are laid in a thin layer to allow around 50% of the moisture to be quickly removed. During the second drying stage parchment is layered more thickly and the drying completes over 5 to 10 days. The results in the cup are something special …

Method Coffee Roasters

0.0

Method Coffee Roasters

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

Coffee Roasts

Bosque Lya

ChuCho Blend

El Camino

Ethiopia Kantite

Guji Gora

HAY Blend

Kenya Kii

La Esperanza

La Huaca

Seasonal Decaf

Xaya

Coffee archive

Ethiopia Haru Co-operative

Kenya Kiambara AA

Koko

Nariño

Nyungwe

New Coffee Review